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Putting aside the frustrations of us need a million chances to score one goal, there was so much to feel good about from this performance. It’s probably the best we’ve played all season and the only thing lacking was the bucketload of goals we should have had. The fact that this game was still somewhat in the balance until Mo’s late penalty is infuriating, particularly in light of other recent games in which we’ve had thirty odd shots and still struggled to convert them. Statistically there are probably quite a few similarities with the United game. Certainly we had a similar number of shots against the mancs, albeit nowhere near as many on target and the XG won’t be remotely comparable. The wider point though is that too often we need to create a lot of chances to score the goals that we should be scoring, but this felt different to me. I don’t think the finishing was too bad for the most part. We didn’t do much wrong and a lot of the time the keeper was making terrific saves. He had the game of his life and he’s the reason we didn’t get double figures. It’s partly down to below par finishing, but mostly it’s just one of those nights when too many shots are within the keeper’s reach and he gets to show off by making a load of saves. We were great though. In fairness, I think Newcastle showed in limited opportunities that they were in decent shape themselves. I thought they played quite well when they were allowed to. They weren’t really allowed to very often though, because we absolutely smothered them. The tempo, intensity and pressing was great for pretty much the entire game, aside from a 10 minute lull before half time which I blame entirely on that twat Anthony Taylor. I’ll get to him in due course. You can tell when we’ve played really well by how animated and excited Klopp is in his post match interviews, and he was fucking beaming after this. He said afterwards something along the lines of “some people say I’m not a good example for grass roots football but maybe they can show the video of this game to grass roots to show them how to counter-press”. I didn’t get onto it immediately, but it was that snivelling little Saudi shill Howe who said Klopp wasn’t setting a good example. He’s defo having a little jibe at Beheddie there. Love that. When we counter press like that we’re a nightmare to play against. That was our identity, it’s why everyone hated playing against us. We lost it for various reasons but it’s back now. Not every game, we’re still a work in progress and besides, it’s impossible to play with that kind of maniacal intensity in every match. What we need is for it to be there when we need it. I’ll tell you something. If we’d played like this against the mancs the other week then another 7-0 wouldn’t have been out of the question. Newcastle are in a terrible run and they’ve got a lot of problems currently, but this performance was way better than what we saw from Ten Jarg and his band of fucking losers. It’s just a shame we didn’t perform like this against them. Right from the start we were on top of Newcastle. That first half was brilliant, the only thing missing was a goal but it wasn’t for the lack of trying. View full article

The Reds extended their lead at the top of the Premier League with arguably their best performance of the season to beat Newcastle 4-2 at Anfield in a game where the scoreline did not reflect the performance. TLW Editor Dave Usher is joined by Paul Natton and Julian Richards to look back on a very satisfying night at Anfield. Mo Salah added two more goals to his tally, Curtis Jones excelled in midfield, Joe Gomez continued his great form and Luis Diaz had his best game of the season. We discuss of this and more, plus there's the obligatory discussion on Darwin's finishing as well as a look ahead to the weekend's FA Cup clash with Arsenal. View full article

Monday Dec 25: Oh my God, that video with Daire. That’d bring tears to a glass eye. What a fucking fantastic kid he is. So mature for his age and what a great attitude he’s got. The older I get the more of an emotional mess I am, I’m choking up at all kinds of shit these days, but I make no apologies for getting all choked up watching this. I’ve been a bit mad at Kloppo the last few days after the daft shit he said last week, but what a man he is. When he said to Daire that he enjoyed meeting him as much as Daire enjoyed being there, you know he meant it. It was also heart warming when Diaz and Nunez came in to see him and they both just hugged him and Diaz gave him a kiss on the head. Great lads, that kid will never forget that moment and how affectionate they were with him. The club’s social media team have been sitting on this for weeks and waited until Christmas morning to release it. Meanwhile, good stuff today from Virg on Konate (and Quansah). “I speak a lot with him about certain things because it’s my duty to share experiences with him. He’s still learning and he can be even better than he is. Same goes with Jarell. I’ve been in the game for quite a while now and been quite successful. I try to give that to the young players. “These players at this age are even better than I was. But obviously it’s about doing it in the long run. I’m pleased for how he is now but he can be even better, he can progress. It’s nice to see the progression and development, it’s nice to see that they listen. Let’s see what it brings.” It’s a good point and people probably don’t think too much about it. Konate is light years ahead of where Virgil was at the same age, but Quansah is too. Much better at 20 than Virgil was. Doesn’t really mean anything in terms of what he’ll be like when he’s 25, but it’s encouraging, especially as he’s being tutored by the man himself. Virgil is the best I’ve ever seen though and I doubt we’ll see another like him. If either of them can get close then we’re very lucky. View full article

Loads to get through here due to the busy fixture list over Christmas. It feels like last weekend’s games were about a month ago as so much has happened since, but I’ll pick up where I left off last time. First up was “El Kitmanshittingonthedressing roomfloorico” as Brighton and Palace played out a 1-1 draw at Selhurst Park on the Thursday night. That Michael Olise is really fucking good. So silky and that left foot of his is as good as any in the league. He’s so good he actually produced a ball so perfect that not even Jordan Ayew could fail to score. That’s his one goal for the season anyway, so opponents need not worry about him again. Brighton brought that on themselves by getting caught playing out from the back. That does my head in and I see it every week, but it’s hard to criticise Brighton for it when they’re so good at it and hardly ever caught. This was just a bad mistake by the keeper more than anything else. Brighton equalised with a header from the Harrods Jordan Ayew, Danny Welcrap. Fucking brilliant header that though, just lovely. Right in the top corner. Onto Friday now and Aston Villa had the chance to go top. All they had to do was beat bottom club Sheffield United, who had only taken one point away from home all season. Villa have been getting so much slurping lately from the media and out of nowhere they were now being talked about as title contenders. I can’t take them seriously, partly because of how bad they were at Anfield, partly because of that stupid high line they play even when they have no pressure on the ball, partly because I don’t think they’re anywhere near the level of us, City and Arsenal and partly because, well, they’re Aston Villa. You can never trust Villa. In fairness they’ve bucked that trend this season and beat both Arsenal and City recently, but I just think maybe there was some sort of collective amnesia thing going on. As soon as they remembered they were Aston Villa normal service was resumed. They’re the Midlands equivalent of Spurs. They needed a 98th minute equaliser to even get a point against the Blades. That sums Villa up. Could have gone top, instead they shit down their own leg. Villa thought they’d gone ahead through Bailey but VAR spotted a foul on the keeper in the build up. The question here is how did Anthony Taylor not see that at the time? The keeper tries to punch it with his wrong hand and gets nowhere near it, but you could tell he must have been being held as it was so weird looking. It’s an easy take for him but a Villa player had hooked his right arm to stop him catching it. Taylor somehow missed it, and needed VAR to tell him. Bet he’d have seen it if it had been a Manc goalkeeper or a Liverpool forward. Chris Wilder’s side went ahead with a lovely goal, as Hamer ran in behind the Villa backline and sent Konsah for the Echo before picking out Archer who buried it against his old club. Unfortunately they couldn’t hold out and Zaniolo headed in the equaliser right at the death. Isn’t he meant to be banned for betting on matches? Or did I dream that? *just googled and he’s still being investigated, but reckons he only used illegal gambling platforms for poker and blackjack, and didn’t bet on footy. Saturday now, and the Mancs went down to defeat at West Ham despite completely controlling the game and creating chances against Moyes’ side. At least so Eric Ten Jarg says. I didn’t watch the game so I’ll take his word for it as I’m sure he’s got no reason to lie. Bowen got West Ham’s first when he latched onto a wonderful pass by Paqueta and got a bit lucky with the finish. Minutes later Kudus added a second. Another blank for the Mancs and I was shocked when MOTD revealed that after this result only Sheffield United have scored fewer league goals than them. That’s an incredible stat I think. Imagine scoring fewer goals than Luton and Burnley after 18 games! How much have they spent on forwards? Scandalous that, it’s astonishing that he’s still ion a job, but I’m not complaining. Goldbridge has been complaining for months that when United concede a goal they shit themselves and usually concede again soon after, and when this happened he went off on one and described them as “panicking like a nonce in a prison riot”. Sensational. View full article

‘The best goal difference in the League. Libpool, Top of the League Libpool Libpool, Top of the League. Don’t believe the Table? Listen to the Fume. It’s a sure sign we’re back.’ Thus I ended my last piece on the 10th of December, post Palace. A little over two weeks on, it’s a case of bis repetita. 19 league games in and we’ve managed to win 12, losing just the one. (We’ll get to the draws anon). In the meantime we’ve also progressed comprehensively to the semi-final of the League Cup. There have been a couple of blots – the game in Belgium (and even at that it was a dead rubber) and the one that could rankle for a while, United at home. All things told, we should be delighted with where we are as 2023 draws to a close: top of the League on Boxing Day, on 42 points half-way through, thereby looking at 80+ for the season; two games from Wembley; comfortably into the last 16 in Europe’s second competition; a third-round FA Cup tie to look forward to; the League’s second-best attack and joint-best defence; competition for places everywhere; players to come back in. Is everything rosy in the garden? Of course not. The lads on the podcast have consistently spoken about the ‘Eye Test’ (as GH would say, ‘‘there’s no ‘eye’ in ‘team’’.) And they are right. As much as the back four have been astounding this season, the ‘attacking five’ just doesn’t look right. The numbers belie this, of course, but suffice it to say, something is not right. We are no doubt influenced by previous seasons, where that ‘attacking five’ of (delete as appropriate) Henderson, Wijnaldum, Sadio, Bobby, Mo (with others providing clincical back-up) served up consistent brilliance, game-in, game-out. Not to mention the back-up provided from the flanks by Trent and Andy. The Reds are not there yet – and indeed, may never be. But they don’t have to be. They just have to be a bit better. And that will come as they play together more and more. Everything seems a little turgid at times, no more so than against United. Wrong balls being played, lack of width, players getting in the way of each other. Trent being so narrow probably doesn’t help with this, but then you take the rough with the smooth, as his pass for Mo against Arsenal underlines. Paul has consistently said that Klopp has an unrivalled record in turning good players into world-class ones – there should be little doubt that given time, he will do this with this Nunez, Diaz and Gakpo. In as much as something is not right – it seems to be an axiom at this stage – the numbers stack up very favourably. 28 games in and the front five have already racked up 45 goals between them, averaging over 1.6 goals a game, this despite a number of injuries / absences for three of them. Over a 55-game season – I think we’ll play closer to 60 – that equates to 88 goals. The team – because others are chipping in too! – is on course for 120+ goals, based on 55 games, I’d say. That firepower should translate into success. Hopefully Nunez’s goal against Burnley can kickstart his season and having Diogo back is going to be massive, he’s the best finisher at the Club. They’ll be all the more important as Mo will be missing because of international duty, although even then, the planets seem to be aligning as it coincides with FA Cup games and our winter break, mostly. He’ll not be a bigger loss than Mo, obviously, but Endo being away is a massive loss. He has really come into his own in the last six weeks – given Klopp’s record of easing players in, should we ever really doubted him? He’s done two things – he’s protected our centre-backs and allowed other players ahead of him to play. Virgil hasn’t needed Endo to make him look good this season as he’s been imperious in his own right, but having that protection certainly hasn’t done any harm. He does the simple stuff well and is a massive upgrade on 2022-23 Fabinho. In the second half of the season, his presence in there will hopefully allow us to play Macca further forward and unlock the front three even more. Before finishing on a positive note (I know, I can’t believe it either) back to those pesky draws. Six games out of 19, which straight away makes you think ’12 points dropped’. Well, the only reason they are so frustrating is that we are in a Title race! And of the six – Chelsea, Brighton, Luton, City, United, Arsenal – I think the only one which really remains stuck in the gut is the United game, because of how bad they are. Chelsea was this team’s first competitive game together, Brighton could have gone either way, Luton was a good point given how abject The Reds were on the day, City away is always a good point and Arsenal was a fair result. Not to forget the ‘steal’ against Newcastle. All told, 42 points half-way through is level par, maybe even a couple under. So, as we go into 2024, we’ve a lot to be thankful for and positive about. The best keeper in the world and a back-up who is getting 15-20 games a season. Virgil back to his imperious best. A fabulous new find in Quansah. Joe Gomez having the season of his life. Kostas providing more than satisfactory back-up to Andy – let’s hope they’re both back soon. Trent coming into his own. A new midfield taking shape – despite some ups and downs, which are to be expected. Harvey showing his huge potential. Five strikers who while still not firing on all cylinders continue to produce the goods, one way or another. Competition for places, expert use of the squad by management, rivals from last season falling off. 2023 started off with a 3-1 defeat away at Brentford. It’s ended on a brighter note. And I think it’s safe to say that 2024 will be ‘interesting’. Hold on tight. Happy New Year, Reds! John Brennan View full article

When Darwin gave us that early lead, of all of the possible ways this game could have played out, us hanging on and needing to wait until stoppage time to get the vital second goal to make the game safe seemed just about the least likely. I could put that down to some sloppy finishing and us not really showing the urgency needed to put them away, but I think that would be unfair. We did put them away, twice, but when you’re having perfectly good goals ruled out for no reason then it makes life much more difficult. If Gakpo’s goal stands, I reckon we go on to score five or six. If Harvey’s goals stands, we probably score three or four. So as much as I was frustrated at the time at our inability to kill the game, on reflection I’m giving the lads a pass here as they scored four goals and I’m sure it would have been more if the PGMOL mafia had done their job properly. I’ll get to that though. I’ll start with the line up, which was mostly as expected but with one notable exception. The back four picked itself as Konate doesn’t play twice a week so Quansah was always coming in for this one. The only decision to be made up front was Gakpo or Diaz. Nunez was always starting after being given a rest against Arsenal, but Diaz got a knock against Arsenal and even though it was just an impact injury, it would have been a surprise if he started. So midfield was the area where the biggest decisions needed to be made. Szoboszlai was rested so Elliott could start, which I was totally on board with. Good game for Harvey to play in given the way Burnley play. He deserved his chance to start so I liked that. I was shocked to see Curtis on the bench though. Not because of how bad Gravenberh’s cameo against Arsenal was, that’s just one of those things and means nothing, but because Jones was brought off early against Arsenal and has been in great form this past week. Why would he not be starting? It’s a weird one. Either there are fitness things going on or maybe it was something about how Burnley play that made Klopp think Ryan’s attributes would be well suited to it. I’m really surprised Jones wasn’t in that team though and hopefully that changes next week against Newcastle. Not because Gravenberch played badly, he was fine. I just think we’re a better balanced team when Curtis plays. Against Burnley though we should have been able to play anyone and still win the game. They aren’t a Premier League team. They ran away with the Championship playing their style of football, but it doesn’t translate to the top flight when you’re up against better quality teams. Luton aren’t a Premier League standard team either, but their style at least makes them difficult to play against. Burnley are easy to play against, I can see them conceding six, seven or eight to one of the top teams this season. It should have been us, especially after we started the way we did. View full article

Darwin Nunez ended his goal drought and Diogo Jota marked his return from injury with a late strike to send the Reds back to sink Burnley and send the Reds back to the top of the table. Chris Smith is joined by Ian Brown and TLW Editor Dave Usher to reflect on an incident packed game in which VAR once again reared its ugly head to make life much more difficult for Klopp's men than it should have been. The lads also look ahead to Newcastle next week. View full article

I’d feel a lot less frustrated by this if we’d taken care of business last week against that dogshit United team. This was actually fine. Decent enough performance against a good side. Should have won, probably didn’t quite deserve it though and a draw is perfectly ok. If we’d done what we should have last week we’d be top and this draw would be seen as a pretty good result for us. But we couldn't beat that shite Manc team so this is now quite frustrating. Given the way we started I’d have probably taken the draw if you'd offered me it when it was 0-1. I didn’t like that start at all. After all the nonsense all week about the atmosphere and the focus on how important the crowd were going to be, Anfield was predictably rocking prior to kick off. But it would have been anyway, Klopp’s daft comments in midweek made no difference to that, it was a top of the table clash against a one of the strongest teams in the country, so of course the fans would turn up and do their bit. It was loud, it was raucous and the sense of anticipation was palpable in the air before that opening whistle. And then the game started and we were immediately on the back foot. Arsenal started well and looked confident. They weren’t fazed by the atmosphere, but here’s the thing about the famous Anfield atmosphere and the effect it has on opposing teams; it only works when it’s in tandem with what the players are doing. Barcelona weren’t beaten by the crowd. They were beaten by what the crowd did to our players, and that in turn makes life incredibly difficult for them. It’s a two way street though. One doesn't work without the other. We turned up last week against United but the team didn’t, and the way this game started I was wondering if it was happening again. It wasn’t even just that Arsenal started sharper than we did, it almost looked like we were actively trying to fucking quieten the crowd! Alisson standing on the ball for ten seconds, waiting for Arsenal to come and press him, then giving it to Virgil who did the same. Passing it round at the back, taking the sting out of it. What the fuck???? No, we need high octane shit, not this slow slow slow bollocks. It took us a while to get going and we were a goal down early. Bad goal to give away but I do think Arsenal deserve credit for how they worked it. They were doing some funky things on set-pieces all day. On their first corner I noticed they had three big bastards stood well back of everybody else and then they all ran in when the kick was taken, making it difficult to pick them up. It caused confusion and Jesus won the header at the front post but it went straight to Alisson. After that we defended their corners well but even so, you could see they were thinking a little outside the box and I like that. The little details can make all the difference. On the free-kick they scored from they were doing some weird shit too. Four of them stood in offside positions prior to the kick. You see this quite a bit, but usually it’s because they know the defending team is going to run back in before the kick is taken. We don’t do that, we always hold the line until after it’s taken so clearly Arsenal were up to some shit. I was curious to see what they did, and just before the kick was taken they all ran back onside, and then ran in towards goal again after it was taken. It seemed to catch us out as Alisson started to come but then stopped, and he was caught in no man’s land as Gabriel headed past him. If Alisson stays on his line he saves that easily. Konate didn’t track Gabriel’s run and Gakpo had dropped in a fraction quicker than everyone else which played Gabriel onside by a few inches. It’s mostly Alisson though, that hesitation killed him really. View full article

A brilliant Mo Salah goal saw the Reds come from behind to draw with Arsenal in a pulsating clash at Anfield, but the Reds would be sitting pretty at the top of the table if Trent Alexander-Arnold had converted a glorious 2nd half chance at the Kop end. TLW Editor Dave Usher is joined by Dan Thomas and Paul Natton to dissect an eventful game which once again saw Liverpool's defensive players shine as the attackers generally flattered to deceive. View full article

Monday Dec 17: Roy Keane made a stupid comment about Van Dijk yesterday and that’s the main headline in sports media today. “Roy Keane calls Virgil Van Dijk arrogant - was he right? Let’s discuss”. This is the world we live in now. I don’t even think Keane believes anything he said yesterday, he’s just there performing a role. He did the same thing last season with that “big baby” shit he said about Robbo. To quote the man himself, “that’s his job”. He said what he said and today social media is awash with clips of it and chatter about whether he was right or not. There wasn’t anything even remotely arrogant or disrespectful about what Van Dijk said. It maybe doesn’t look great when you see it written down and the quotes are used in isolation, but that interview was nothing. Only one team was trying to win, we were really frustrated with the draw and they were buzzing. All facts, and none of it presented with any commentary. He wasn’t mocking them. The fact that Virgil has had to comment on it today is ridiculous. I like Keane, he’s brilliant on the Overlap and generally I like his stupid, meathead soundbites when he’s a pundit. If you enjoy it when he’s ripping on Maguire, De Gea, Rashford whoever, or laughing at Spurs, then there’s no point getting riled up when he comes out with this nonsense. He’s performing a role and Sky will be delighted with the traction it got. Shout out to Studge for getting under his skin all day though and for bringing up his lack of Champions League medals. View full article

Wins for Arsenal and Villa combined with us drawing with the worst United side I’ve ever seen made for a pretty shitty Sunday, but at least Saturday was fun. When do City ever blow a 2-0 lead to anybody, let alone a struggling team at the Etihad? Never happens and it’s hard to believe it actually did. But it did, and it was glorious. Hodgson casually stood there looking at a melting down Guardiola and laughing is the image of the season so far. Well, since Darwin went after him the other week anyway. So funny. I don’t really understand what’s going on with City as I can’t ever remember this happening before. They’ve dropped points, and Palace have actually gone there and won previously, but them blowing a 2-0 lead at home (or anywhere) feels like something that hasn’t happened before. It probably has, I just can’t remember it. It was all going as you’d expect it to as goals from Grealish and Lewis put them in complete control. Palace had barely left their own half at this point. In between Ederson probably should have been sent off. I’ve seen loads saying he definitely should be sent off but it’s not quite an open and shut case for me. Mateta is going very wide and there is a defender between him and the goal. You could easily give a red card though as having a crack at a goal that has no keeper in it is certainly what you’d call a goalscoring opportunity. I’m just saying that I can see why Manchester’s own Paul Tierney didn’t send off Manchester City’s goalkeeper in a stadium full of Mancunians. Mateta slid in to convert a Schlupp cross to make things interesting, and then in the 93rd minute Palace were awarded a penalty when Foden booted Mateta. Not even Tierney could ignore that one. Olise coolly rolled in the spot kick to give Palace an unlikely draw. The City fans booed their team off at full time, the ungrateful spoilt cunts. They won a treble last season and they’ve won three titles in a row. They hit the first sticky period they’ve had in years and their home crowd are booing them off. We already knew that their fans are shit and might be the worst in the league, but I’d say this probably confirmed it. Is there ANY other set of fans who would be booing their team off given everything they’ve won? Honestly I don’t think there is, but they know everything they’ve won isn’t legit so it just doesn’t mean as much. City fans get more out of other teams not winning trophies than they do about their own team actually winning them. Wankers. Passive aggressive Pep was in full on weirdo mode again afterwards. Absolute wrong ‘un he is. View full article

Well that was easy. I wasn’t expecting it to be like that because we’ve been crap lately and the last time we played the Hammers at Anfield we had to play really well to get the win as they looked a good side. Both managers made six changes but even so, I don’t think anyone expected this. We were really good. It was clear from the very start that the tempo was high and we were playing with intensity. We weren’t creating too many clear chances but it always felt like a goal was just around the corner. West Ham weren’t offering anything in attack but they were working hard to keep us at bay so the first half was at least somewhat competitive. They just gave up in the second half, but that’s not our problem. We can only beat what’s in front of us and the lads did that very well. After the damp squib served up last Sunday this was what we needed. A lively, aggressive, front foot display full of attacking football, relentless pressing and a nice variety of goals. If only we could have had just one of these goals against the Mancs. Some of the goals were lovely. The first from Dom is a belter. Not many people can strike a ball that like, with that weird Ronaldo technique. If I tried that I’d break my foot. The keeper didn’t really have any chance to keep that out. He should have dealt with the second one though, scored by Curtis just after half time. It’s a clever finish after he ran onto a lovely pass by Nunez, but there’s only one way he can score from such a tight angle and that’s through the keeper’s legs. How is the keeper allowing that to happen? The third was a powerful strike by Gakpo from the edge the box. Very clean strike, which is something he’s really good at. Not gonna lie, I was pissed off that he didn’t play Nunez in but he scored so what can I say? Well, “greedy bastard” was something I did say but you can just chalk that up to my desperation for Nunez to end this run he’s on and shut all the knobheads up. I saw some LFC account with nearly a quarter of a million followers tweeting before this game that if he doesn’t score in the next two games he’s in danger of losing the fans for good. It’s this kind of shit that makes me go so far the other way. Goal number four was from Mo who came off the bench to run clear and effortlessly score. He was horrifically bad in everything else he did but the way he took that goal, it was just never in doubt was it? He never seems to miss those. He misses fucking loads of chances, but rarely those ones when he runs clean through. So accomplished at those. If only he could pass some of that on to my boy. View full article